January 18, 2020 2 min to read
How to create strong passwords and keep them safe
Category : Hobby, Lifestyle
“Create a strong password” isn’t just common-sense advice; it’s now often required for many online accounts. Strong passwords are one of the simplest ways to thwart hackers.
The problem is that there is an inverse relationship between how memorable a password is and how complex it is.
Don’t worry; this article is here to help. You’ll learn how to create strong passwords, keep them safe, and make sure you’re never locked out of your accounts. Let’s begin.
How Do Hackers Attack Passwords?
You might be wondering why you even need a strong password anyway. Most people believe they are not interesting for hackers.
But that’s not true. Hackers may try to steal your identity to get some money from your family or friends. Or they can take advantage of your accounts with paid subscriptions to resell their credentials online.
Check eBay for Netflix accounts. Where do you think most of them come from?
And hackers have many different password-hacking techniques and tools at their disposal. After a data breach, the easiest one is buying your credentials on the dark web.
And it isn’t even expensive. Apple ID login information, which is the most costly non-financial credential, sells for $15.39 on average.
There’s a whole industry online revolving around this. And if you’ve been using the same weak passwords for years, your accounts may have already been hacked.
Hackers also have specialized software that can brute force attack passwords. It works by guessing thousands of passwords in seconds.
In some cases, they use social engineering techniques to get users to reveal sensitive information. They can use it to guess passwords or answer security questions. No matter what, your passwords are always vulnerable.
How to Create Strong Passwords
Here are the traditional guidelines for creating strong passwords:
Must be 12 characters or more. The longer a password is, the more difficult it is to guess. For example, the difference between wlcm and wlcmwl is a cracking time difference of 1 minute vs. 4 hours (based on my1login Password Strength Meter).
Must include numbers, symbols, capital and lower-case letters. Mixing different characters makes the passwords more difficult to crack. As mentioned, hackers can crack wlcmwl in 4 hours. But WlcmWl!2 can take up to 22 years.
Shouldn’t be a dictionary word or combination of words. Single words are terrible, but even a combination of a few words is bad. For example, house is an awful password. But Big House is not good enough either…
Continue reading the article and learn more about passwords on Life Is An Episode website.